upon acknowledging the facts of both life and death~

It was strange this summer to come here to Colorado in the very early days of June and to have absolutely no friends.  I knew no one, save for my husband Mike, and that very realization was a bitter pill to swallow.  I had left "57 years of friends" back home in south central Kansas and I realized just how lonely and alone I felt at first.  I'm thankful to say that now, over 3 months later, I know lots of folks and even have several people that I would consider a friend.  But in those first weeks of existence here along the Western Slopes, my chances of having a companion to call on went by two names, "Slim" and "None".  

One early June day on an especially lonely and homesick kind of morning, I awoke to the sight of several deer near the front yard in one our adjacent alfalfa fields.  They had come to graze along the rows of alfalfa and had dared to venture close to the front porch.  I was so shocked by seeing the three that were halfway out into the field that I neglected to see the six that were scattered very near to me along the barbed wire fencing.  I grabbed my camera and started snapping pictures and I haven't stopped since.  

All summer long they have come by us, sometimes keeping far out into the alfalfa field and yet other times traipsing right through the front yard, just out side of the door.  They have been most predictable coming generally right at sun up and returning the same way at sundown.  It seems to have been a couple of different herds with a variety of deer in each.  There's been the big guy as the leader with a huge rack that most hunters would be quite pleased with.  Another male has lost one of his antlers and always has that slightly "off" look about him.  The does have been beautiful, definitely the prototypes for "Bambi's Mom" in all of the Walt Disney movies and with them, as of late, twin babies.  The "short guys" have been a delight to watch and have even been brave enough to head out on their own at times and peek at me through the fence.  I have watched them grow all summer long until now as the deer hunting season begins a new and stark realization has come upon me.

The other morning at the break of day here in Montrose, we noticed a man standing next to his pick up along the fence just outside of our front door.  Mike went out to see who he was and ended up visiting with him for quite a while.  When he left, Mike came back in and told me that he was a friend of our landlord Bill.  The man had shown Mike his permit from the Department of Wildlife allowing him to take down two deer, one buck/one doe during the next few weeks.  He had been there along the fence row that morning just watching them as they came up into the field.  

At first the news was pretty upsetting to me.  For crying out loud, I'd watched those deer all summer long and enjoyed their daily parade alongside the house and yard.  Now all of a sudden this guy can come and just shoot them?  Yet as Mike attempted to explain to me, it's "a necessary evil" in a location like ours where the deer population has no natural predators.  It is now the time that the herd should be culled out for the benefit of the deer that remain behind.  Lack of food and grazing area as well as the damage done to agricultural crops along the way were some of the biggest necessitating factors.  And so, they will be taken.

I hope to not be here on the day that they are killed but if I am then I pray to remember why it had to happen in the first place.  I must have grown older, perhaps wiser as the years have gone by.  Dang twenty years ago I would have gone out and stood in front of the rifle and said that in order to shoot the deer, they would have to shoot me.  A whole lot of good that would have done any ways.  It's a fact of life and a real fact of death that as the "Good Book" says in Ecclesiastes, "to everything there is a season."  The deer will be shot and their meat will be processed and eaten in accordance.  The deer that remain will perhaps have a greater chance at survival.  Yet even as I know this, I still feel a tinge of sadness especially as I watch them now each evening time and know that their days are so very numbered now.  

I think I feel sad because I realize just how much those crazy animals, those four-legged critters saved a lonely and homesick girl from Kansas this summer.  Until I made friends of my own and in my own time, those deer became my companions and helped to take away a bit of the "smarting" feeling I felt as I began to get accustomed to my new surroundings.  They saved me and didn't even know it.  How I must have looked to them like some crazy woman who had just "gotten off of the boat" at Plymouth Rock and had arrived in town looking for trouble.  People used to warn me about not getting too close to them to take their photos.  I said not to worry because I was sure they would die laughing at me before they would charge and run me over.  Now their time has come.

To the deer, I give thanks for helping me to make it through the rough days of the first weeks here in Colorado.  Those dang things provided hours of enjoyment, of distraction from the long and lonely days that I endured.  My camera card is filled with photo after photo of their growth and change and I will cherish those photos for a long time to come.  Who ever enjoys their meat, which ever two it may be, I hope that they give thanks for the sacrifice of the animals.

Well it's nigh on to bedtime.  The sun is just now setting here along the western side of the Continental Divide.  There are 3 deer along the gulley just to the south of our house, bedding down for the night I suppose.  When the morning time arrives they too will arise and start their day.  I'll keep watching them all for as long as I can and enjoy the beauty that they add to nature around these here parts.  Whether it be by rifle shot or by arrow, I know that which ever two are taken, it will be quickly done because that's the humane of ways to do so.  Seeing those deer were a "gift" a real blessing to this Kansas farm girl and I will remember my summer with them for many years to come.

Have a great evening everyone out there!  Sweet dreams and a restful sleep to all of you.

                                   For many happy remembrances, I thank you deer!